


Her Last Battle

by andrasteshaircurlers



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: Calling, Death, Final Battle, Loss, Tearjerker, The Calling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-21
Updated: 2014-08-21
Packaged: 2018-02-14 04:04:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 843
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2177229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andrasteshaircurlers/pseuds/andrasteshaircurlers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Last Battle. Companion piece to "Night Talks"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Her Last Battle

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Night Talks](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1988898) by [andrasteshaircurlers](https://archiveofourown.org/users/andrasteshaircurlers/pseuds/andrasteshaircurlers). 



The warden Torania joins the Legion of the Dead for her calling remarkably less depressed than most.  To the curious dwarves she explains she is not afraid to die. She enjoys a fight. There is only one thing that makes her unhappy. She misses her husband. He is a warden too and should join them any day now.

Then they encounter darkspawn for the first time. The woman is a sodding demon. Taking out two ogres by herself and many of the others besides. There is a grin on her face as she does it. Darkspawn blood splatters all over her. She throws back her head and laughs.

As the weeks pass that laughter while facing the darkspawn fades until nothing is left. She fights just as hard but there is no joy to her movements now. She becomes quiet

A few months pass. The woman who first came to them is gone She is one of the quietest wardens the Legion of the Dead have had join their ranks to fight for them as part of what they called their calling. She never smiles. Never laughs. The grim humor that has marked the dwarves who consider themselves dead since their orders founding is completely lost on her.

She cries sometimes. One of the legionnaire scouts reports. When she thinks others can’t see her. She seems more unstable then most wardens who remain stoic. He watches her one night about halfway through her year with them through narrowly parted eyes. Her lips are moving as if speaking to someone. But she stays apart from the rest of them. Normally the wardens don’t start to go loony so soon. This can’t be a good sign.

His curiosity gets the better of him. He manages to sneak up behind the woman in the darkness one night as she sits on a stone talking to a wall. There are tears on her cheeks again.

“And I found this Adorable little figurine Alistair. I almost went to pick it up to bring it home to you.  Then I remembered I’m never coming home and maker Alistair I’m starting to think I will never see you again. I just left it lying there. Every night I imagine your arms around me you know. It’s the only way I can fall sleep. But it’s not the same. I miss you.” The woman places a hand against the wall and then leans her forehead against it. “I’m not sure I can last a whole year. I want this to be over. Do you think maybe if I kill every single darkspawn in the deeproads I can come home?” She laughs mirthlessly. A twisted broken sound “I killed two ogres today. I felt nothing. I’m broken. More broken then when I met you. Oh Alistair where are you?” and then she just sobs. The dwarf backs off. he should not be listening to this.   

Her movements become more trance like. While the dwarves drink after each fight she just goes through the motions of celebrating, cleaning her gear. Then one morning when they wake she is just gone.

Torania Cousland Theirin cannot last any longer. She collects her gear and quietly slips away in the night. It’s time for this nightmare to be over. It’s time to die.

She loses track of how many darkspawn she kills. With each one there is a small glimmer of hope. This one. This one will be the one to end it. But no, They all fall before her blades. She’s pretty sure she’s cleaned an entire thaig by now. The dwarves will be happy with that. She’s exhausted. How many hours has it been? Orgres, Hurlocks, genlocks, shrieks, emissaries, she’s killed them all. She can’t go on like this. Please something kill her.

 

When she finally feels a darkspawn blade slip into her side she smiles. The darkspawn  looks a bit taken aback. It has not encountered that before. Then she cuts its head off. She stumbles onward, bleeding, not bothering to patch the wound.

She is starting to feel slightly dizzy when she stumbles upon the alpha ogre. They see each other at the exact same moment. Both charge. But then her sword falls from her grasp blood loss making it too heavy to lift, and the ogre wraps its hand around her lifting her into the air. She stabs her dagger into its hand but that only seems to make it mad. It squeezes her until she screams and slams her against the floor. And then it squeezes her again.

She tries to picture him. She always wanted to In her last moments. To remember him, his kisses, his face, the feel of him in her. She desperately tries to summon up his image but the pain is too great. Her lips part. She is determined to say his name. That will be her last words no matter what the ogre does to her but then she hears her own spine crack and in that instant she can do nothing  but die.


End file.
